The ‘GR1M’ reality

As farcical as this obsession with the '1' is, it will not help BN get away with the 'GR1M' realities.

COMMENT

By Ali Cordoba

The 1Malaysia concept started with the promise of uniting Malaysians and conducting the affairs of the country in a professional manner. But it has turned into a satirical sideshow.

Among all the slogans dished out since the Dr Mahathir Mohamad era, “Malaysia Boleh” still carries more weight than those crafted by his successors.

The decision by the Barisan Nasional government to roll out the concept in order to make its mark as a “new” BN government in 2009 was not supported by all and sundry within the ruling coalition. Rejected by many, the 1Malaysia concept has not helped BN, however good its intentions were.

The very first people to show caution about the concept were the pro-BN Malays. They were followed by other communities who did not trust the underlying reasonings within the concept. While the BN wanted to tell the people that 1Malaysia stood for a “united country”, the big question was: how united can Malaysia be with its inherent communal divisions?

Three years after its launch, racism is still rife in Malaysia with communalism still strong in the political arena, certainly within BN itself. The ruling coalition, instead of giving an example to the country, allowed more race-based parties/components to join its formation.

It will surely nominate candidates in the forthcoming general election with the ethnic race of the candidates and the electorate of the constituencies in mind. In a majority Malay constituency, there will be a Malay-Muslim candidate while in a Chinese majority seat, a member of the Chinese community will probably lead the assault for BN.

BN expected more political gains if it succeeded in pushing the idea of a 1Malaysia across the board. It had hoped that the “masses” will rally behind the call for a “one nation” concept but all hopes have since then nosedived into a litany of “1” that has sent the “rakyat” into boredom.

From the BR1M to the 1Malaysia wedding ceremony, the ruling coalition showed that it lacked imagination in relentlessly pushing forward the concept. Must it be said how the Internet was buzzing with laughter with the infamous “1Malaysia” logo for the 2012 Merdeka celebrations?

With utter satire, some folks had posted all over the Internet a logo of a certain brand of “noodle” that could cook in “1Minit” (that is in one minute) with the Malaysian depicted next to it and Happy Merdeka inscribed below.

Almost everywhere in the country, pro-Pakatan Rakyat supporters are arduously waiting for the next wave of “BR1M” with the sole intent of pocketing the RM500. They do not intend to vote for BN in the next general election, many of them said during conversations with the writer.

Under the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi prime ministership, the concept of “Islam Hadhari” was rolled out. Though the concept was dubious, since many informed Islamist insisted that there cannot be any “Islam Hadhari” as it implied there were various Islam concepts and sources, the former prime minister pushed on with the concept.

It resulted in his ousting in 2009 after his government suffered a massive setback in the 12th national polls.

It can be argued that his regime established many concrete business and cultural landmarks with the halal business thriving until today and Malaysia leading the world in Islamic finance.

Yet, the Islam Hadhari concept was barely accepted by the public at large and it did not help his regime in the face of a growing opposition under Anwar Ibrahim.

Have the Indians and Chinese benefited?

The 1Malaysia concept, it must be said, never had a good beginning. Many among the majority community in the country questioned the very idea of taking away what “belonged” to the Malays to give it to “others”.

Today, the sentiment is still the same and there may even be a simmering conflict on the potential elimination of what is called the “economic rights” of the Malay community with the gradual roll-back of the Bumiputera status.

On the other hand, the community that has suffered the most in the 55 years since the country gained independence, asked what would they really get out of the 1Malaysia concept?

Today, their fate is not any better than what it was four or five years ago. The Indian community is still in the doldrums.

Did the Chinese community benefit from 1Malaysia? It is doubtful altogether since there is no real exuberance noted from the second largest community in the country about the concept.

They, too, do not understand where they stand in a country riddled with communalism and racism. Had they benefited from this concept, they would surely have showed more support for Najib.

However, it is hard to see massive Chinese support for BN at this moment and this has been acknowledged by many BN leaders in their speeches and comments.

Why is the Najib government sticking its neck out in full to defend the concept? Marred by accusations that the idea was conceived by an image promoter working for the Malaysian government, 1Malaysia seems stuck in controversies and a total loss of the management of public opinion by the ruling coalition.

The persistence in which the regime is pushing the 1Malaysia concept shows that it is either incapable of conceiving a solid strategy for its survival or is suffering from gross deficiencies. It is also a sign of the rejection of the concept by a majority of the people.

It is true that the 1Malaysia concept has benefited some large corporations that have “adopted” the logo and the slogan to promote their businesses or it may have also helped some entrepreneurs too.

Whether it met its goals and objectives remains questionable on the eve of a massive test with the 13th general election on the horizon.

The people may have benefited financially with the disbursing of the first wave of the BR1M of RM500, but there are questions on the viability of the plethora of the “1” logo in almost everything the government does.

As farcical as this obsession with the “1” is, it will not help BN get away with the “GR1M” realities in Malaysia at a time when the opposition is set to make further inroads in the next electoral battle.

Ali Cordoba writes extensively on local politics.